


five times gareki nearly got caught reading shoujo manga and the one time he was

by necroesthe



Series: requests [4]
Category: Karneval
Genre: Fluff, Gareki has a flip phone dont judge, shoujo manga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-13
Updated: 2016-01-13
Packaged: 2018-05-13 20:25:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5715937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/necroesthe/pseuds/necroesthe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Gareki is a sucker for shoujo manga but keeps it a secret cause he's embarrassed. It's not long until Nai finds out."</p>
            </blockquote>





	five times gareki nearly got caught reading shoujo manga and the one time he was

_five._

Gareki remembered vividly the first time he had picked up a shoujo manga and had gotten sucked in the wonderful world of cheesy romance, repeated plots, easily avoided angst, and terribly hot characters that made him realize that he was, in fact, incredibly gay. So gay that his poor heart ached whenever he saw the male protagonist. It should be illegal for a bunch of lines to be that fine!

His parents had gone out to the plaza and took him along, because leaving a six year old at home alone for an unknown period of time was considered unethical in these times and days. But as soon as they had entered the place, Gareki’s parents had gone their own way, fully intending to have a marvelous date without a small six year old acting as a third wheel.

Gareki hadn’t stood there and looked at their retreating backs. He hadn’t done that since he was four. Instead, Gareki abandoned any sense of care and wandered around, hoping to find something entertaining, which led him to the manga section of the local bookstore.

He would pick one with a semi interesting cover and skim through it placing it back on the shelf after deciding it was boring. That process continues until he had reached the shoujo section.

The covers looked stupid, and would be filled with what was undoubtedly an even stupider plot. Gareki picked up a series he remembered the girls in his class gushing about, prepared to laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of it.

He didn’t like it. He downright loved it.

Wiping away a tear, Gareki reached for the second volume.

Footsteps approached. It was an employee. “Hey, kid. Whatcha got there?”

Gareki’s grabbed it and shoved it up shirt. He put part of the book in the waistband of his short to ensure it wouldn’t slip out. He looked up at the employee, careful to make sure his face and voice was blank. “Nothing.”

Then Gareki power walked out of the bookstore.

 

_four._

The second time Gareki was nearly caught was during the time Tsubaki had taken him under his wing.

He had nabbed a manga from one of his classmates, fully intending on keeping it forever. She had bullied Tsubame and had yet to apologize. If the series turned out to be really good, Gareki would take all her other volumes.

He climbed up a tree and sat high up one it, looking down at the other kids run around in their school’s sad excuse of a playground. The slide was a rickety thing that groaned at the slightest bit of pressure and the swings broke at least once a week, usually when someone was using it. It was a death trap.

Gareki cracked open the shoujo manga, determined to get through it before recess ended. He liked to rush through volumes, then go back and slowly reread it, checking for any details he had missed previously.

He was getting to the climax of that volume, where it was revealed that Himiko was not actually a reincarnation of Ryouko, but a clone instead. She then ran away from the organization with her maybe-nearly-but-not-quite boyfriend. And currently, they were being pursued by the organization’s leader, who was the maybe boyfriend’s older brother, who also fostered a crush on Himiko.

At the way things were going, Gareki wasn’t sure it was still considered shoujo. But the guy was cute, so he’d stick with it.

“Gareki? What are you doing up there?” It was Tsubame. She looked up at him, squinting. “Are you re-”

“No!” He shoved the volume up his shirt and laid back, attempting to seem casual. He closed his eyes. “I’m not reading anything!”

“I was going to say resting but okay.” She went silent for a moment, thinking. Then she spoke, and mischievous smile stretching across her face. “But what were you reading?”

“Nothing!”

“Why are you blushing? It can’t be _that_ embarrassing.”

Gareki covered his face.

 

_three._

Breaking and entering places wasn’t something one should do alone. It required an inside man to reveal escape routes, guarded areas, and the location of valuables. It required teamwork, strategy, and skill. Gareki only had two.

He sat in the corner of the pub, leaning back against his chair, looking through his phone. Wi-fi was available, and Gareki had never been more glad for online scanlations. He could catch up to Horimiya while waiting for one of the rats to come back with the mansion’s blueprint.

Life was great.

“Hey, is that ma-”

Gareki snapped his flip phone shut. “No.”

 

_two._

He was stuck now with an albino kid who seemed to know exactly nothing. Didn’t know what blood was, didn’t know how long minutes were, didn’t even know what seconds were. It was as if the poor sod was raised under a rock.

He doubted Nai could even read.

“Gareki, what’s that?” Nai pointed to a book, which had a sailor scout painted delicately on the cover.

“A book.” Gareki couldn’t bring himself to throw it away. It held sentimental value, being the only thing he had with him during his time with Tsubaki.

Nai tilted his head. “S-A-I-L-O-R M-O-”

Okay. The little shit could read. Gareki snatched the book off the bookshelf and tucked it away into a safe place, being his pocket. “Okay that’s enough.”

“Why? Is it something bad?”

Define bad. “Yeah, let’s just say that.”

 

_one._

Circus hospitality was awful. His phone was taken away, the sheep kept on tossing him around, and Yogi-

Yogi was in his own category. A disgusting blend of the overbearing mother and a carefree teenager. Except he wasn’t a mom nor a teenager. He was a 20 year old man who enjoying wearing a cat suit and had no sense of privacy, hence why he made Nai, him, and Gareki bathe together in ‘family bonding’.

Gareki prayed that Nai wouldn’t turn out like Yogi.

But he digress. Circus hospitality sucked, and he was never alone. And Gareki needed alone time. Desperately.

When he had told Yogi that, the blonde had been scandalized. Then gave him a bottle of lotion and a box of tissues, and a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

“Yogi no.” Gareki said as the items were shoved into his arms. “It’s not like tha-”

“Its okay. You’re growing. We were all like that at one point.” He sniffed and rubbed his eyes. “I can’t believe my son is growing up so fast. It seems like it was just yesterday when I rescued you and Nai fro-”

“Shut up.”

“Gareki, what do you mean by alone time?” Nai piped in, and then looked at Yogi in a manner far too innocent to be genuine. They had been allowed to use the computer as of two weeks ago. Innocence couldn’t last that long without parental controls and the suggested sites due to Yogi’s search history. “And Yogi, why did you give him that stuff? What are they for?”

Yogi scratched his head. “W-well you see-”

“Bye.”

Gareki entered the bathroom, locked the door, and sighed. Dropping the lotion and tissue, and slid down the door and pulled out his phone.

Thank god for online manga sites.

( _“open the door gareki” yogi pounded on the door “its been three hours “_

_gareki ignored him and continued reading_

_then yogi kicked down the door and it was a race against time, gravity, and skill for gareki to save the link, close the page, and get out of the way_ )

 

_fin._

It was late. It was dark. And it was the perfect time to catch up on the manga. He needed to unwind after dropping out of Kuronomei and the whirl of events that came with it.

Carefully, he took out his phone out from its place under the pillow, and flipped it open. Quietly, of course.

Then, he began to read. He was so invested, he didn’t notice Nai sliding out of his bunk and climbing up to Gareki’s, a determined look to his face.

“Gareki, are you crying?”

“No!” He jolted and flipped his phone shut. “W-why would I be crying?”

“Because Michiro just died.

Goodbye dignity. “You saw that?”

“Yeah.” Nai invited himself to Gareki’s side, slides under the covers, and leans on him. “Can we start from the beginning? I really want to know why that happened.”

Gareki is positive this qualifies as cuddling. He pulls Nai over to a more comfortable position, which is between his legs. Gareki rests his chin on Nai’s head. “It’d be easier to catch up to where I am now if we watch the anime, and then pick up where it left off. The anime does a pretty good job, surprisingly.”

“What’s anime?”

“You’re about to find out.”


End file.
